Monday, 28th–We started at 7 o’clock this morning, marched fifteen miles, and went into camp at 5 p. m. Our division took up the rear on our march today and we had good roads for marching, with the exception of a small swamp which lay in our path. This is a fine country and there is plenty of forage. All is quiet in front, the rebels retreating without putting up a fight.[1]
[1] Almost every day after leaving Atlanta large numbers of negroes, women, children and old men, came, some of them walking miles, to see the Yankees go by. The soldiers in the ranks would engage them in conversation and the odd remarks the negroes would make were often quite amusing. They were asked many questions, one as a joke, a favorite one with the boys, was asking the nice mulatto girls to marry them; the answer invariably would be in the affirmative. These incidents as well as others made a change, and broke the monotony of our long, weary marches.—A. G. D.